Urgency of nuclear power in Bangladesh

Following the statement of G-7 countries in April, favouring nuclear power electricity as one of the three options for energy diversification, energy efficiency, and energy security, and to address climate change (nuclear power stations do not emit greenhouse gases, especially C02), there has been a softening of attitude towards nuclear power both in the developed and the developing countries. Recently, a number of articles supporting nuclear power in Bangladesh have appeared in the press.

This is not unexpected, because the country is facing an acute power crisis, and existing conventional resources (gas and coal) will not be able to meet the growing demands for electricity. Let me be more specific.
At present, we have an estimated shortage of 1500-2000 MW in the national grid, and we are trying hard not only to meet the shortage in 2-3 years but also to achieve the target of the projected demand based on Base Case GDP. The historical GDP growth from 1994-2004 was a little over 5%, while the projected growth from 2005-2025 are 5.2%, 8% and 4.5% in Base Case, High Case and Low Case respectively.

Using the Base Case scenario, the power sector will consume two-thirds (9.6 tcf) of the remaining 15 tcf of proven and probable gas reserves by 2025, unless coal takes over the generation seriously from 2010. According to the Draft National Energy Policy (prepared by UNDP in March, 2006) for a limited Gas-Early Coal alternative, 1500 MW of new coal-fired power will have to be generated by 2015, and 10,000MW (over half the total additions) by 2026.

It has to be remembered that for the purpose of planning, only recoverable coal reserve and their actual recovery has to be considered, not to speak of required imported coal. Just to give an example, Barapukuria has a coal reserve of 300-450 million tons, but the recoverable reserve (estimated so far) is only 64 million tons (44.8 MTOE). The actual recovery at present is 2400 tons/day, which is expected to rise to 2700 tons soon and, ultimately, to 3300 tons/day (in two phases), which can support a power station of 300 MW only.

It is, therefore, essential that, not only for energy security but also to meet our projected power requirements, alternative sources for producing electricity have to be considered. Keeping fuel cost and environmental considerations in mind, we should not consider any form of liquid fuel for power generation.

The Daily Star